traditions

June 16, 2010

It's time for that great American tradition, the patriotic class performance! I wonder at what age we all learned these tunes? Here at Mary Munford, first grade is the time and the back porch is the place. Many American standards were featured, and a couple of newer tunes, too.

Griff is behind the pianist in the photo above. Look below. See, there he is, between Mia and Savannah!

The teachers sat right in front of their classes to cheer them on and remind them of lyrics. (You can see that there's a beach towel over the piano here, on the left: it has the names of all the states and I could see kids reading it during "50 Nifty United States".) Ms. Mallory is so sunshiny.

My friend Sophia (Savannah's mom) looking on.

The school calendar sets June 22 as the official last day of school, but teachers are clearly wrapping things up and this was the last real function of the year. Ms. Mallory was encouraging families to let her know when their child's last day would be - apparently some families were opting to make the 18th their last day, and she seemed to think this was a good idea, as all class parties and lessons and everything would be wrapped up by Friday. Griff and I conferred with her and agreed that his last day would also be Friday. So this is pretty much it for first grade. It has been a great year for Griff!

May 07, 2010

Sabot has a lovely tradition called "Pencil Night," when parents come and decorate a pencil for their child(ren) - a gold pencil for each child who will be moving on to another school the following year, and a silver pencil for each child who will be returning to the school next year. When Griff was a Garden Room child (his first year), parents actually decorated the pencils themselves, creating ornate tags connected to the pencils or incorporating the pencils into a piece of paper sculpture. One parent created a pencil ballerina and another surrounded her son's pencil with a folded-paper fire truck. Apparently the creativity had become a little competitive/stressful, so the following year, the teachers introduced a new tradition: the parents would work together to create a display for the children on one of the play tables, then each would write a note to his or her child on a card provided by the teachers, to which a photo of the parents' collaborative creation would be attached. The pencils would be attached to the card later.

One common theme that has emerged in the parents' displays is creating representations of the school grounds using the materials provided by the teachers. This year, Reese's class in the Rainbow Room has been going out into the forest every day and each child has chosen one part of the forest as "their spot". They have been drawing, photographing, painting, and embroidering representations of their spots. We parents created a diorama of the school and forest, making sure to incorporate our children's favorite spots.

The morning after pencil night, the children discover the work their parents have done. Here is Reese showing Xander a tiny stop sign on a popsicle-stick playground fence.

Trees along the creek, represented with a blue playsilk. The picnic shelter featured tiny tables and a ceiling fan. Black rubber stood in for the parking lot. Not seen here: tiny liriope plants made from grass and clay, arranged in the spiral of the labyrinth.

Fairies inside the culvert; a stick wound with twine, used by the children to measure distances in the forest.

November 27, 2009

1. By playing with the menus on my camera, I discovered how to take photos in black & white (rather than remove their color in post-processing).

2. Family trip to Starbucks. Not really a rare occurrence, but it happened, so I'm telling you.

3. Bowling. First time I've gone in...um...huh...not sure how long. A decade or more? Can't be possible, but I suspect that's the case. Kids' first time, obviously. Griff and Reese were both huge fans, Xander got in on the action, everybody was totally happy through 7 frames and were fine through the 10th, so it seems one game is the perfect length for us. Griff wants his birthday party there in January.

4. Ran into Griff's friend Logan and his family at the bowling alley. Happy birthday, Logan!

5. Ditched the black and white settings an went for VIVID COLOR at the illumination night of Lewis Ginter's GardenFest of Lights. The RVA Hoop Lovers put on a show before and after the countdown and we really enjoyed the effects of their LED hoops.

6. We froze our butts off at GardenFest! Why do we always go on the first truly freezing night of the year? Had a great time nevertheless.

7. All of these photos were taken on fully-manual. This could not have
happened at all a year ago or even half a year ago. I'm pretty proud.
And, erm, modest. Ha.

October 04, 2009

6th annual trip to the State Fair of Virginia, now at a new location North of Richmond. We almost didn't go due to weather, increasing busy-ness, and the perception of inconvenience (it's actually probably just about as far as the old location was from the Short Pump house, <30 min drive), but pulled it out on the last day and wrung 8 hours of fairy goodness out of it before leaving the park at an unbelievably late-for-us 9pm.

Quote from Reese the following day: "I liked having stay-up time at the State Fair. I stayed up late like Griffin! And when I was cold I gotted carried."

May 12, 2009

Dan likes to quote Tolkien: "history became legend, legend became myth..." and this song strikes me as somewhere in the legend phase of that trajectory:

buttercupschoose if you likebutter or notchoose if you likethe yellowy kindof the color of the petals of the buttercups

you can give them to boysyou can give them to girls

buttercupschoose if you likebutter or notbuttercups!

Supposedly this song (and its tune?) was created by children at the Sabot School. I have no idea how long ago this occurred - possibly a generation ago, who knows. By the time we joined the community it was a long-standing tradition. I accept the story of its origins without much question and have enjoyed Reese learning it after hearing it from Griff two years ago. The children at Sabot anticipate the blooming of the buttercups in the "meadow" every year, as it heralds both the arrival of spring and the impending visit of the Sabot Dragon. Children pick them, give them to teachers, test anyone within arm's distance for butter-affinity, and start predicting the Dragon's appearance. I credit the tradition with sparking Griff's enduring fondness for the flowers, and it looks like Reese will share that affection. And because, as Reese says, "you can give them to boys...you can give them to BOYS," I do, too!

May 01, 2009

Our old neighborhood was relatively snubbed by the local frozen goodie pusher last summer, so the boys and I are psyched that this year, we seem to be on a street in heavy rotation. This truck came by at *just* the right post-dinner moment and we all ran for the curb to flag the driver down. What's more, we managed to score 4 treats for about $7, a lot cheaper than those gelato scalpers in Short Pump!

February 01, 2009

I think I owe this idea to Joost Elffers, originally. We've had his calendars on our kitchen bulletin board for years, and somewhere along the line I realized that he had bruised bananas in order to make the spots on giraffes. It hadn't occurred to me that you could bruise a banana on purpose, or for art's sake.

When I put a banana in Griff's snack box, I take a blunt, skinny object (like a closed ball-point pen or the end of a spoon) and "write" on the banana. Sometimes it's a smiley face or heart, sometimes it's a message. I can barely see the impression I've made, but by snack time, it will have darkened into a clearly visible banana-bruise image. I'm not much of a lunchbox-note mom, so this is a nice way of giving him a little love from home while he's at school!

January 25, 2009

Griff has his first loose tooth, a milestone that has been much anticipated, both by him and by me. Several years ago, not wanting to be caught unprepared for that first lost baby tooth, I bought a tiny tooth box, although now I'm wondering if it wouldn't be more special to use this tiny ceramic box that my friend Nancy once brought back from Ecuador for me. Or maybe something less breakable (she says, thinking about the hand-thrown beloved wedding gift bowl that the toddler shattered yesterday). Maybe a wood box from my childhood or something similarly special and small.

We have, in these days and weeks before the tooth comes out, a unique opportunity. We can decide how to mark this occasion in our family. Griff and Dan and I get to craft a tradition which will be handed down, perhaps tweaked a bit but probably mostly the way we forge it today, to his younger brothers.

I picture the Tooth Fairy as a ponytailed blonde in a blue gown, perhaps inspired by Pinocchio's blue fairy or that Fisher Price Little People teacher lady (you children of the '70s know the one I mean), or perhaps as a mini fairy version of myself. I got to doodling today (I never sketch, I'm under the impression that I have no artistic ability, although I rather like these fairies, maybe I should practice) and imagined a boyish version of the Tooth Fairy, something a little like Puck and a little like Reese

Griff is over the moon about the TF, although he assured me in confidential tones, "I know it's really you, but we can pretend." That's just how my family did it; I assume my mom and I talked about it before the first tooth, and afterward there was never a word about who the real tooth fairy was, just a nudge and a wink and a "hey, mom, the Tooth Fairy forgot my tooth last night, could you remind her to get it tonight?"

The Tooth Fairy economy was somewhat different when I was a kid. Our local fairy paid a quarter per tooth, although certain special teeth earned a silver dollar, like molars and teeth pulled by the dentist. I've heard everything from dollar coins to two-dollar bills to 5 bucks a tooth from those I've polled. I think the resident fairy will have a simple exchange rate of one golden dollar per tooth, no matter what the circumstances. Guess it's time to stock up on rolls of Sacagaweas.

I've heard of other family traditions, like notes in teeny tiny silver fairy print left for the child. I rather like that one. I wonder if we might mark the occasion with a special breakfast, too.

December 03, 2008

Many thanks to the Hardys for renewing our memberships for us!! We took advantage of the free members' night for the Gardenfest of Lights. This year's lights have a bug theme, which predominantly featured butterflies and spiders.

This year's wall of Post-It notes asked visitors to give green ideas - I suggested composting (yellow sticky note in center of left photo) and Griff suggested planting trees (right photo). Reese carefully selected a pen, drew a doodle, and carefully replaced the pen in the cup before posting his note next to Griffin's.

It was a cold night, perfect for drinking cocoa in the children's garden and getting into the wintery spirit!

March 23, 2008

What is it about holidays in our house that the boys always end up in these jammies? At the very least, I'm gratified that this impulse purchase has turned out to be such a good one.

Griff snuck downstairs this morning to check for his basket. While age three seems to be when our kids are really old enough to enjoy holidays, five seems to
be the age of expectations. He had told me the night before that the "best thing" about Easter is the basket full of toys and candy. I wouldn't say it was *full* and honestly, I don't usually do toys, but fortunately for me, the simple baskets with a couple of pieces of candy and some mini sticker/activity books, along with some bath confetti, was satisfactory. Whew.

We had a laid-back Easter at home this year, with a little bit of gardening (weeding to prep for planting) and then the main event in the afternoon: the hunt. Our neighbor Georgi hid eggs with me and Don and Matt joined us for the search. Reese was STOKED and has become quite the adept egg hunter.

They generally move too fast for photos, but here's the best of what I managed:

March 22, 2008

Major development this year: Griff is suddenly much more thoughtful about the egg-dying process. He explored the relationship between length of time in the dye bath and intensity of color, and also experimented with several dip-dyed two-tone eggs.

Video below of dye prep. The smell of the vinegar was the source of much amusement.

October 30, 2006

The boys and I found ourselves behind this dump truck on the way home from Sabot this morning:

Griff was happy to hear that the arm wasn't *real* and busied himself with generating hypotheses to explain how the truck driver might have fastened the arm to the truck. He decided that nails were the most likely method. I agreed that nailing the arm would indeed be an effective way to attach it to the truck. He now checks at every stop light to see if that truck is in front of us again.

And now, the great pumpkin carving...

Just to show that we do indeed learn from experience:

1. We only bought ONE pumpkin this year. No grandiose plans to carve more. I did buy a white pumpkin, but intended it to be used as an uncarved decoration.

2. We carved in stages rather than doing the whole ordeal after dinner.

Griff and I isolated the toddler (i.e., waited for his nap) and then did the initial lid creation and gut removal. As soon as I put it on the table he
cried "I'll get my knife!" and ran to the cutlery drawer, then attacked
the pumpkin with his itty bitty Oneida Noah's ark Community Children's Stainless butter knife. Obviously, the pumpkin flesh was unconcerned
about this assault. So sweet, and so sad.

I toasted seeds while Griff drew plans for the face of the pumpkin. The first plan is at right (click it to see it better). Subsequent plans appeared to be for "pumpkin pies" and the creatures that would eat them. Or maybe the pies were eating people.

When Daddy arrived home from work we had a quick dinner and then got back to work. Daddy and Griffin sketched more plans before being reminded by Mommy that time is of the essence. Less sketch, more carve, guys. Daddy got to work. Later, Griffin demonstrated to Reese that the pieces removed could be re-inserted into the pumpkin shell like a puzzle. Coooooool. Reese's comment: "puppies!"

Finished product. Spoooooooky!

Which reminds me...Griff learned this little song/rhyme at school and loves to chant it:

Stirrrrring and stirrrrring and stirrrring the brew...
Stirrrrring and stirrrrring and stirrrring the brew...
Tiptoe, tiptoe, tiptoe, BOO!